Jack M. Donahue

Jack M. Donahue, of Columbus, Ohio, born Dec. 8, 1929, in Herrin, Ill., died May 16, 2015, after a courageous battle against lung cancer.
Jack was the third of eight children born to Paul and Carrie Donahue. After his mother's death, he was placed in the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Children's School, an orphanage in Bloomington-Normal. He was 11 at the time and remained in that institution until his graduation from high school.
He attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and graduated with high honors with a bachelors degree in sociology. He served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War. In Korea he and a group of soldiers helped run and finance a children's institution for Korean War orphans. That experience, along with having to bury vast numbers of abandoned Korean babies pulled from Pusan Bay, led him to resolve to save every child he could and cemented his future in child welfare.
After the war, Jack graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1956 with a master's degree in social work and spent over 40 years working in the child welfare system.
He first worked for a St. Louis orphanage for troubled adolescents, later rising to become regional director of the East St. Louis region for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and later becoming the regional director of Cook County Illinois.
He created many first-time programs, including the first specialized foster homes in Illinois, the first homemaker and specialized homemaker programs, house-sitter programs for abandoned children, pre quality assurance reviews, foster parent associations and a shelter for troubled kids in Chicago.
He mentored hundreds of social workers, was known and admired for his work ethic, commitment and integrity, and created numerous programs for the benefit of abused, neglected and foster children that are still in effect today.
He moved to Columbus in 1979 to become the deputy director of Franklin County Children's Services. As deputy director, FCCS improved programs to protect abused and neglected children, expanded family preservation services, placed record numbers of children in loving adoptive homes, developed emancipation and independent living services for older youth, and began to offer scholarships to youth in foster care who wanted to attend college. Upon his retirement in 1995, the agency established the Jack Donahue scholarship. Two graduating foster youth, who he called "my kids," annually receive partial scholarships which help them attend a two-year or four-year college or university in Ohio. Jack's more than 40 years in child welfare have helped "save" thousands of children.
Jack is preceded in death by his parents, his beloved aunt, Mable Donahue; brothers Joe, John and Ron; sisters Maxine, Shirley and Marylyn; and his best buddy, Ben.
Jack is survived by his loving wife, Marilyn Nelson Donahue (nee Struthers); daughters Vicki (Ray) Wheatley and Gail (Tim) Mayer; grandchildren Claire Wheatley, Kaitlyn Mayer and Nicholas Mayer; stepson Robert (Kathleen) Nelson; stepdaughter Judith Nelson; brother Jim Holderfield; first wife Jacquelyn Bittner Donahue; step-grandchildren Elizabeth (Yohm) Peterson, Rob (Linsey) Nelson, Reed Nelson and Dane Nelson; two step-great-grandchildren; and a multitude of loving and loyal friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to the Franklin County Children's Fund-Jack Donahue Scholarship, 855 West Mound Street, Columbus, OH 43223.